>Here's a letter we math teachers at Springfield's Central High Schoolare>sending to various concerned parties. > Springfield Central>High School> 1840 Roosevelt Ave.> Springfield, MA 01109> April 10, 2000>> We, the undersigned teachers in the mathematics department at>Springfield Central High School, resent being scapegoated bybureaucrats in>the Department of Education and on the Board of Education. Segmentsof>the press and the business community have joined them in this tacticwith>an apparent agenda of doing great harm to the public schools in the>Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They have been putting forward suchschemes>as making the MCAS a graduation requirement and proposals for>teacher-testing, most recently and specifically the testing ofmathematics>teachers in high schools such as our own, where MCAS "failure" ratesare>high. These are clear attempts to make the students and teachers inthe>public schools appear to be failing, thus paving the way forprivatization,>for-profit charter schools, vouchers and the like.>> We are dedicated professionals, hardworking and skilled mathematics>educators, nearly all with advanced degrees and scores of years of>collective mathematics teaching experience. We have completedextensive>professional development programs in many areas of mathematics,computers>and such technologies as graphing calculators, as well as inpedagogy.>Many of us have facilitated these workshops ourselves.>> We teach in one of the state's poorest communities. Many of our>students face innumerable social and economic pressures both in their>neighborhoods and in the schools--obstacles not encountered by mostyoung>people in the more affluent suburban communities. Getting a good>education, getting to school on a daily basis, making time to study,and>even surviving are not the same here as in these wealthiercommunities. We>have always accepted the challenge to teach in this city's schools. We try>to be there on a daily basis for our students, providing quality>mathematics instruction as well as the necessary support to motivateour>students to overcome these obstacles as best they can.>> In spite of these conditions and difficulties, 75% of Central's>graduates go on to 2- and 4-year colleges each year. Yet only 25% oflast>year's 10th graders would have been allowed to graduate based ontheir>mathematics scores on this MCAS exam. Our students do much better onthe>proven, validated and nationally normed Iowa's and on the SAT's. Nowthe>Commonwealth wants to deny diplomas to 75% of future potentialgraduates of>our school.>> To add insult to injury, the Governor and the Board of Education>want to test the math teachers in schools with a higher than 30%"failure">rate on the MCAS. Naturally, we find this idea to be quite offensiveand>preposterous in light of the previous information on our alreadyproven>qualifications and on the job we are dedicated to do. Perhaps theyare>trying to drive us out of Springfield to another community or toanother>state where our services most likely would be in demand and perhapsbetter>appreciated. (There is a national shortage of trained, certified and>experienced math teachers such as ourselves). We are tired of beingbashed>and bullied. Let us do our job, and test the DOE (Department ofEducation)>bureaucrats, not the math teachers.>> Sincerely,>>>Richard Annino Walter N. Brown James Carithers David Carlos>>Myron Follett Francis P. Funai Gladys T. Gagnon> Lori Giacomoni>>Katrina Krach Denese Lakoma Lenny Lapon Nancy Mathras>>James J. Phaneuf Tim Renn Leroy Scott., Jr.> Janet Settembro>>N. Everett Washington Jean Watson Carolyn Wikar>